·Research product or service company provides (is product or service desirable and in high demand; does product or service have longevity potential or will it fade within a few years; if marketing a product – is product beneficial and is it documented and researched).

·Learn about any costs to get started.

·Learn about compensation provided to independent associates (is compensation strong enough to make you financially free within a reasonable amount of time).

·Determine how much time you have to commit to business.

If you are someone who truly enjoys your job, then congratulations. However, if you feel you are running in circles within rat race and need a change, then I urge you to get involved with a home-based business. You can build your business while working your job, and then eventually work your business full time.

As someone who previously worked in corporate world, I am happy with freedom I found with my home-based business and cannot see myself ever going back to rat race. Won’t you join me?

-Financial Planner

-Bookkeeper

-Keep excellent records

-Keep all receipts

-Advertising

THINGS YOU WILL NEED IF YOU WANT TO STAY COMPETATIVE

-Business license

-Incorporate

-Bookkeeper

-Financial planner

-Marketing material

-Business cards

-Letterhead

-Envelopes

-Folders

-Letters of referral

-Bio sheet

-Product or service sheet

-Web site

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

-Which ones are most beneficial for you to join? To get biggest benefit from any organizations you need to get involved. Use monthly meetings to network.

-Dues and fees. How much are annual dues and cost for monthly meetings?. Figure that in your budget.

-Conventions. Are there any conventions you need to go to? What is time and cost investment? Talk to others who have gone to find out if it will be worth investment.

-Network. Most of your business will come from referrals.

QUALIFYING THE BUYER

-Who is my customer?

-Do they have a budget for my product or service their budget?

-Do I want to work with them?

PAPERWORK

-Invoices

-Contracts

-Service agreements

-Letters

MANAGE PROFESSIONAL IMAGE

-Responding to requests by providing what customer needs. If you are not person for job, who can you refer (that’s why networking is so important)

-Follow-up. Do your follow-up in a timely fashion

-Develop a good relationship with client

-Return calls as soon as possible

-Send information in a timely fashion

-Priority mail is often less expensive than first class. And it can be more impressive to your client.

-Keep in touch after fact. A mistake a lot of people make in doing business is they do a job for a client and then seem to forget client. It is easier to get repeat business than it is to find new business, and yet, so often business owners and salespeople (which is what you are if you own a business) will look for new customer and forget about their existing clientele.